49 Facts About Phil Bredesen

Phil Bredesen is the most recent Democrat elected to a statewide office in the state.

Phil Bredesen served as the 66th mayor of Nashville from 1991 to 1999.

On December 6,2017, Phil Bredesen announced he would run for Bob Corker's open seat in the United States Senate, as Corker chose not to seek reelection in 2018.

Phil Bredesen lost in the general election on November 6,2018.

Phil Bredesen has been widely characterized as a moderate Democrat who is fiscally conservative but socially liberal.

Phil Bredesen's parents divorced and his mother was employed as a bank teller.

Phil Bredesen grew up in Shortsville, New York, 30 miles from Rochester.

Phil Bredesen attended Red Jacket Central Elementary and Secondary School in the adjoining village of Manchester.

Phil Bredesen received a scholarship to Harvard University, where he graduated with an undergraduate degree in physics.

In 1967, Phil Bredesen moved to Lexington, Massachusetts, where he did classified work for Itek and received a draft deferment during the Vietnam War.

In 1968, Phil Bredesen worked for the campaign of Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy, who was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

Phil Bredesen launched his first political campaign in 1969, when he ran for the Massachusetts State Senate.

Phil Bredesen was defeated by a popular incumbent Republican, Ronald MacKenzie.

Phil Bredesen sold his controlling interest in HealthAmerica in 1986, and because of the wealth he earned from the company, did not accept his gubernatorial salary.

Since Boner fell short of the necessary threshold for an outright victory, he and Phil Bredesen faced each other in a runoff.

Boner won the runoff, 75,790 votes to 66,153, largely by emphasizing that he was a Nashville native while Phil Bredesen was a Northerner.

In December 1987, Phil Bredesen ran in the Democratic primary for the 5th District congressional seat left open by Boner's victory.

Phil Bredesen finished a distant second behind Bob Clement, son of former governor Frank G Clement.

Phil Bredesen won the election, defeating Councilwoman Betty Nixon, 78,896 votes to 30,282.

Phil Bredesen implemented a back-to-basics curriculum to teach students the fundamentals of learning.

Phil Bredesen attempted to lure the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves and later the NHL's New Jersey Devils to Nashville, but both efforts were unsuccessful.

Phil Bredesen declared his candidacy for the 1994 Tennessee gubernatorial election in November 1993.

Phil Bredesen promised to manage state government better, improve Tennessee's schools and use his experience as a managed-care executive to fix TennCare, which had created a critical budget shortfall toward the end of Sundquist's term.

Phil Bredesen garnered more support in East Tennessee than was usual for a Democrat, especially one from Nashville.

Phil Bredesen became governor amid a fiscal crisis, with a predicted state budget shortfall of $800 million.

Phil Bredesen used some of the savings to establish a "safety net" for health clinics affected by the cuts.

Phil Bredesen created the Governor's Books from Birth Foundation, a statewide expansion of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library that offers free books for children, and in his fourth year, he signed legislation that increased funding for education by $366.5 million, much of which came from savings due to TennCare reform.

Phil Bredesen launched a war on methamphetamine abuse, focusing on treatment, prevention and public awareness, with the Governor's Meth-Free Tennessee initiative.

In 2005, Phil Bredesen signed legislation establishing the Tennessee Heritage Conservation Trust Fund, which increased the state's land-buying power in hopes of protecting ecologically significant land and conserving or restoring historically significant areas.

In 2007, Phil Bredesen was criticized for proposing a private donation funded $4.8 million dining room upgrade to entertain lawmakers and other dignitaries to the Tennessee Governor's Mansion.

The onset of the Great Recession limited what Phil Bredesen could accomplish during his remaining years in office.

In May 2009, Phil Bredesen vetoed a bill that would have allowed people to carry guns in bars, but the legislature overrode his veto.

In June 2009, Phil Bredesen signed a bill into law allowing loaded guns in cars.

Since leaving the governor's office in 2011, Phil Bredesen has been the chairman of a solar energy plant developer.

Phil Bredesen did not comment on joining a Democratic ticket as Vice President of the United States.

On June 4,2008, Phil Bredesen endorsed Barack Obama for US President.

On December 6,2017, Phil Bredesen announced that he would run for Corker's open seat.

Phil Bredesen won the Democratic primary on August 2,2018, with 348,302 votes.

Phil Bredesen said Blackburn's "voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me" and shared a link to the nonpartisan voter registration website Vote.

Phil Bredesen supported a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in 2006, but supported the right of same-sex couples to adopt children.

Phil Bredesen had an A rating from the National Rifle Association of America as governor, but in 2018, the NRA gave him a D rating.

Phil Bredesen signed into law a bill allowing gun owners with handgun permits to carry their firearms in public parks.

In 2009, Phil Bredesen said he would not veto a bill exempting certain firearms from federal regulations, allowing the bill to become law without his signature, but he had vetoed a similar bill earlier.

In October 2018, Phil Bredesen broke with the Democratic Party and endorsed the confirmation of Trump's second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.

Phil Bredesen ran for governor opposing the state income tax and as governor made cuts to the state's government health care plan due to its financial trouble.

Phil Bredesen opposed the Republican Party's 2017 tax reform, saying it provided "crumbs" to the middle class.

Phil Bredesen sought to eliminate the grocery tax break arguing that funding was needed for the state's budget.

Phil Bredesen did not raise the sales tax and opposed raising taxes on gas, but did support increasing a tax on cable services.

Phil Bredesen is a founding member of the nonprofit Nashville's Table and he served on the board of the Frist Center.